Making roads safe

The alarming number of casualties in road accidents exposes how deadly the roads, particularly highways, are in Bangladesh. Casualty figures in road crashes vary but that should not detract us from the fact that the number of dead and injured is still unacceptably high in Bangladesh.   

Road crash is a multidimensional issue involving multiple stakeholders. With ever increasing traffic, our roads and highways suffer from premature failure. On top of it, faulty road construction makes vehicles vulnerable to frequent crash. The road authority should invest more in developing the capacity of the roads and do the necessary maintenance, repair and expansion works timely.  

There are also considerably more vehicles on the road than are registered drivers, most of whom are not fully skilled. These issues must be addressed by the government so that the licensing system, while being simplified, is also made foolproof and that potential drivers can learn quality driving at an affordable cost. The issue of defensive driving should be included in the training curriculum, by making a driver aware of the need for behaving responsibly on the road.

In this regard, the traffic police department has a crucial role to play in identifying and holding accountable reckless driving and overloaded vehicles, cautioning signals for hazardous locations and disseminating information on driving and road safety to the public.
Last but not the least, the national and local bodies formed to address road safety issues should be invigorated to ensure participation of all the stakeholders in order to make our roads safer and save people falling victim to avoidable road crashes.